Archive for the ‘scams’ Category
How to do a Home Walk Through Before Closing
Homebuyers are always so excited about the day of closing and the move into their new home, but one important step should be taken before the closing. Buyers should walk thru the home and give it a careful inspection before heading down to the closing office.
- Schedule a walk through two or three hours before closing,…but, 24 hours before the closing is ideal to allow time to fix anything that the seller missed. Do not walk thru more than 48 hours before closing. Ideally, the buyer needs to see the house empty and ready to move into.
- If the home needed a lot of repairs, it may be a good idea to take your home inspector back for the walk thru.
- Be prepared for your walk through. Bring along the original inspection report and the seller’s property condition disclosure. Verify that all repairs have been made as promised.
- Turn everything off and on. Check that all applicances, heating, air, pool equipment, lights, etc. are operating as they should be.
- Check to make sure all electrical outlets are working properly.
- After the buyer signs the closing papers, the seller has no further obligation to fix anything else.
A walk through before closing is a crucial step for home buyers and it protects sellers, too. Although, you don’t want to lose a great home over a missing $1.00 plug cover, you don’t want to buy a problem that was supposed to be fixed, either. Check everything on your list and if you do uncover something expensive that isn’t fixed…call your settlement attorney. They can escrow the money for the incompleted repair and closing can take place as scheduled.
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Smoke Detector Installed? Don’t forget your walk through 
Walmarts New Chinese Mega Ship Can Reach US Shores in 5 Days
What a ship….no wonder ‘Made in China ‘ is displacing North American made goods big time.
This monster transports goods across the Pacific in just 5 days!! This is one of three ships presently in service, with another two ships commissioned to be completed in 2012.
These ships were commissioned by Wal-Mart to get all their goods and stuff from China . They hold an incredible 15,000 containers and have a 207 foot deck beam!! The full crew is just 13 people on a ship longer than a US Aircraft Carrier (which has a crew of 5,000. With it’s 207′ beam it is too big to fit through the Panama or Suez Canals .
It is strictly transpacific. Cruise speed: 31 knots.
The goods arrive 4 days before the typical container ship (18-20 knots) on a China -to- California run. 91% of Walmart products are made in China . So this behemoth is hugely competitive even when carrying perishable goods.
The ship was built in five sections. The sections floated together and then welded.
The command bridge is higher than a 10-story building and has 11 cargo crane rigs that can operate simultaneously unloading the entire ship in less than two hours.
Cost for this container ship…$146,000,000
A recent documentary in late March, 2010 on the History Channel noted that all of these containers are shipped back to China , EMPTY.
Yep, that’s right. We send nothing back on these ships. What does that tell you about
the current financial state of this country? Let’s all just keep buying those imported goods (mostly, cheap nothing gadgets) until we run out of money, jobs, homes or all of the above.
Just our two cents here at InfoTube.net…. We support American workers, products and companies. We manufacture The InfoTube and InfoBox here in the USA, with materials Made in the USA…so don’t believe it can’t be done. We’re just a little company. If we can do, anyone can.
Please Buy Made in America, whenever possible!!!
Links that Save American Jobs and Support American Made Products
Paul Choi, a long time supporter of the American worker and American dream, complied a list of Links for People who are interested in fighting the Chinese import tsumani.
If you would like to Vote for Made in the USA products, please CLICK HERE. If you want to express your outrage about the outsourcing of American jobs, CLICK HERE. If you want to reach our politicians and news reporters and tell them what you t hink about the Companies who are shipping jobs overseas, CLICK HERE!!
Thank you for helping InfoTube Fight for American Jobs and Products!!! Your Money is Your Vote…Spend it Wisely!
InfoTube, The Hillman Group and China
I am very happy to report that the public outcry about outsourcing American products, specifically Infotube and Infobox, to China has been encouraging, enlightening, motivating and best of all…it may be working to save jobs and keep American made products on the shelves.
As a result of your emails, calls, petitions, Facebook posts, etc. some strange things have happened. We have been contacted by a US Senator, offering his assistance. We have been interviewed on radio news and talk shows and our story has shown up in print across the country. And, we still have our fingers crossed that we might receive a call from Diane Sawyer and ABC news about our story and products.
If you haven’t told Diane and ABC what your favorite American products are, click this LINK and do so, today! Please don’t forget to mention InfoTube and InfoBox!
Perhaps, the most surprising outcome, so far, has been our two discussions with senior management at The Hillman Group. Surprising, because it is happening at all. Surprising, again, because we are each sharing information and I feel that everyone is sincere about wanting to reach a resolution.
Rest assured that we won’t give up the fight until we hear that Crow Erickson will continue to sell Infotubes and InfoBoxes to our major d-i-y retail customers, like we have done for nearly two decades.
Sadly, during our meeting yesterday, Hillman management confirmed that they have shipped some of the Chinese copycat product…identifible by its Yellow lid…to Home Depot, Lowes and Menards. The retailers, in turn, hung it up in the sign department where the InfoTube and InfoBox used to proudly hang.
Please ask for InfoTube and InfoBox by name at the store!! Simply, refuse to purchase the Chinese Yellow Lid product. You know what is at stake and your money is counted as your vote.
A concerned consumer may have said it best in their reply to an email they received from the Hillman Group.
“See, we American voters may truly be powerless, but we American consumers are not. We are fed up watching big corporations, like yours, screw American businesses, and so if you think this lame email has calmed me, you are wrong. I am just getting started.” Cynn Chadwick
If you have a problem finding our products in the stores, you can purchase through our secure our website or through one of our valued, loyal internet vendors….many of whom took action on our behalf…even though by doing so, they face more sales competition.
Thank you again for your support, your comments and your encouragement. If this little company can find a way to beat the competition over in communist China…then, so can other companies!
Buy American and Support your Homeland!!! We aren’t anti-chinese…we are just Pro-American!
Tommi Crow
President, Crow Erickson Inc. 1854A Hendersonville Rd #221 – Asheville, NC 28803. 1-800-858-6000
Radio News Interview and Call from Senator Richard Burr’s Office
I was interviewed on Clear Channel News this morning about our Fight to Save our Company and American jobs from the chinese, copycat imports of InfoBox that are being brought into the US by The Hillman Group, distributors for Lowes, Home Depot and Menards.
After the radio interview, we received a call from Senator Richard Burr’s (R) office to inquire about our story. The Senator’s office is looking into the matter to determine how they can help. Thank you, Senator Burr!
Tommi Crow radio interview on Jameson show
I would like to say a BIG thank you to Jerri Jameson at WWNC News Radio 570 for having us on her show this morning.
Thanks for following our story and for your support! Please continue to sign our petition and send emails to Lowes, Home Depot and Menardsn telling them that InfoTube and InfoBox SHOULD NOT be replaced with chinese imports.
WE NEED YOUR HELP TO SAVE AMERICAN JOBS!!!
Crow Erickson—a small, woman-owned company—is a quintessential American success story. INFOTUBE® literature boxes were invented 23 years ago in my garage in Dallas, TX, to provide Realtors®, builders and homeowners with an affordable way to sell their homes.
INFOTUBE® was an immediate success and quickly made its way into every major retail home improvement store across the country, where they have been sold for more than 20 years by retail giants like Lowe’s and Home Depot. Over the years, our company has provided meaningful, competitively paid work for hundreds of disabled and handicapped Americans.
Today, our patented INFOTUBE® and INFOBOX® literature dispensers are used by millions of home sellers, Realtors® and home builders every day. You can find them in neighborhoods across America, very likely even your own.
Recently, our largest distributor, The Hillman Group, without notice, replaced our patented products with Chinese replicas. Their decision effectively puts our company out of business and, ironically, provides no cost savings for the consumer.
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
1. Please copy and paste the following letter or write your own:
I am writing to request that your company take a stand to protect American jobs by continuing to carry successful American-made products, specifically INFOTUBE® and INFOBOX®.
“Made in America” matters to me and so does supporting our U.S. economy. I do not support companies who outsource American jobs to China.
Please continue to support all Americans including the American companies whose products you currently carry on your shelves.
Sincerely,
(your name)
2. Email it to the decision makers at Lowe’s, Home Depot and the Hillman Group.
Drew Strole (Lowe’s) Drew.D.Strole@Lowes.com
Bill Boltz (Home Depot) Bill_Boltz@homedepot.com
Dan Smercina (Hillman) Dan.Smercina@hillmangroup.com
3. Please forward this letter to everyone in your contact circle.
4. For an up to the minute update on the status of this situation and the response of the retail giants, watch our blog, follow us on Twitter @Infotubes or Like our Facebook Page “InfoTube for Real Estate”.
Your voice and your time matter. Thank you for helping us in our fight save our company, American products and American jobs. Together we can make a difference!
Sincerely,
Tommi
Tommi Crow, President
Crow Erickson, Inc.
Hamptons Real Estate Brokers Under Investigation for High Fee’s
May 19, 2010, 12:57 pm
Hamptons Listings Said to Be Under Investigation
If Wall Street denizens thought they could escape the specter of Justice Department inquiries by decamping to the Hamptons, it appears they’re wrong.
Real estate listings in the Hamptons are the subject of a Justice Department inquiry, The New York Times and Bloomberg News reported Wednesday, keying off an earlier article in The New York Post.
Several Hamptons real estate executives told The Times on Tuesday that they had been contacted by Justice Department officials seeking information about a listing service that has been criticized as an effort to keep smaller agencies from having access to the area’s best properties.
The service, known as Realnet, allows members to share their listings with other members. Last year, George Simpson, who runs his own real estate listing company, sued more than two dozen local brokerages and Realnet. Mr. Simpson said that because only larger brokerages could afford the annual fee, which he said ranged from $15,000 to $50,000, those brokerages ultimately controlled “80 percent to 90 percent of the exclusive real estate listings.”
The stakes for brokerages are big, and apparently getting bigger, according to Bloomberg:
Hamptons home sales more than doubled in the first quarter, the biggest annual increase in seven years of record keeping, according an April 22 report by New York-based appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and broker Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate. A shift toward larger, more expensive homes pushed the median price up 35 percent to $908,500.
Three brokerages named in the lawsuit — the Corcoran Group, Brown Harris Stevens and Prudential Douglas Elliman — declined to comment or did not return calls, The Times said. Realnet did not return a call and an e-mail message seeking comment.
“The question I think the Justice Department is asking is: Are they putting their own profits ahead of what they should be doing for the clients?” Jonathan Lerner, a managing director at the Engel & Volker brokerage, told Bloomberg.
Gina Talamona, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, also declined to comment about the inquiry to The Times and Bloomberg.
By August, Mr. Simpson had withdrawn his lawsuit and said that he planned to refile his case under “different circumstances” and continue “moving forward with the crusade.”
But the original case apparently caught the attention of Justice Department officials. Mr. Simpson told The Times that in the past month, he spoke for 90 minutes by telephone with several department employees about the structure of the real estate industry in the Hamptons and which firms dominated the market.
Members of a multiple listing service post their sales listings for other members to see; nonmembers could be at a disadvantage because sellers generally prefer to have their homes placed on listing services and exposed to as many potential buyers as possible.
John Nickles, a broker based in Southold and the chairman of the multiple listing service for the Hamptons and North Fork Realtors Association, told The Times that he was interviewed on May 5 by two Justice Department lawyers, an economist and a paralegal. Mr. Nickles said that his brokerage could not afford the more expensive system; he pays $160 a month for access to the local multiple listing service that he leads.
Joe Kazickas, owner of an East Hampton real estate company that runs a Web site called Hamptonsrentals.com, said he was scheduled to speak to Justice Department officials on May 24. He said that smaller brokerages that could not pay for the costlier listing database would find it “very difficult to compete.”
Source New York Times, Edited by Andrew Ross Sorkin
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Moving Scams, Cons and Thefts at Record Levels
BEWARE: Moving company scams, thefts and frauds are bold, brazen and at a record levels. Bottom feeder scum bags, with 2 assets…a back and a truck, are preying on thousands of unfortunate people being forced to move.
Watch Out. The “moving” con artist generally targets the most vulnerable among us. Their primary victim is the internet price shopper, who enters personal information on ‘moving quote’ type website, promising to provide the lowest, legitimate price or quote for a move. 
Devastating like Fire. Victims report horror stories that range from being extorted out of thousands of dollars to get their belongings off loaded, to even more disturbing reports that some families lost every possession, family photo, etc. that they owned, when the moving truck never showed up at the destination, ever.
What possibly disturbs me the most, is that like the con artist who sells “cures” to the dying, stealing what little they have left, the majority of moving scam victims are in the same boat. They are being forced to move due necessity, job loss, foreclosure, overall affordability, health problems, old age, wage cuts, etc.
ACTION: If you have been a victim of a moving scam or moving quote website, report this crime to MOVING SCAM.COM IMMEDIATELY!! The website has a single complaint form that they file with various legal and reporting agencies. In addition, victims can print copies of the compliant form to provide to local police and state authorities.
Advise: Search MovingScam.com before you become a victim. The site also provides great infomations including moving company reviews, helpful links and a consumer forum.
Thank you for visiting Why6Percent.com. We are here to help you sell your home and save money!! Visit the site or phone 1-800-381-9496 for help and details!
Toxic Drywall of China
Toxic, sulfur laden sheetrock, Made in China, is making people sick, causing electrical wiring to go crazy and is corroding copper, wire and stainless steel in American homes. The problem has affected thousands of homes in 20 states, yet, the US court system is powerless to hold Chinese manufacturers (most of which are owned by the Chinese government) responsible for problems caused by their products.
To learn how to spot a problem in your home, follow ongoing litigation, read about disclosure requirements and implications for homeowners insurance… CLICK HERE
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